Women can all recite the downsides to aging: We need glasses to read, our waist is expanding in ways previously seen only during pregnancy (thanks in part to a metabolism that has apparently gone into early retirement), the wrinkles crop up daily with the gray hairs coming in close second. Oh, and then there's "the Change." No wonder we assume aging is a one-way ticket downward.

Or is it?

Common wisdom suggests we get older and wiser. But are there ways we improve with age? We decided to ask some experts for their thoughts. The first bit of good news? A more satisfied sex life is on the list.

While some women are more stressed in their 50s to 70s, often due to being in the sandwich generation, licensed clinical social worker Joseph Germano says that "as women get beyond that age period, they might feel less stress because their obligations in life are different. Women more often hold the emotional hearts of the family, so as they age, in their 60s and 70s, if their health is good, they feel less stress because there's less stress on them. Their kids are gone, they're doing their own thing, and they're more settled into a life with less obligations that puts less stress on them."

Our body chemistry is also a factor, in that certain hormone levels decrease later in life, which allows us to feel a milder sense of tension.

Less dense breasts

Dense breasts make it more difficult to detect lesions via mammogram. "Breast tissue does become less dense as we age, but it's a process, not something that happens quickly," said Albany Medical Center nurse Barbara Smith, who specializes in assisting patients facing breast health issues. The tissue becomes more fatty, which is not something you normally would want on your aging body, but in the case of breasts, it's easier to read a mammogram of a fatty breast than a dense one, and fatty tissue is less prone to cancer. Women whose breasts are less dense have a reduced risk for breast cancer than those with dense tissue. "This is a positive," Smith says, but warns, "don't get carried away that now that you're 65, you don't have to have mammograms anymore because you have less dense breasts."

Fewer cold, less severe allergies

There are about 200 types of cold viruses, and as we age, we've likely been exposed to many of these and have built up an immunity that, at the very least, will lessen the severity of a cold. "Certainly with the common cold, which is generally caused by viruses," says Dr. Nora Perkins of Albany ENT & Allergy Services, "you get immunity as you get older."

The same is true with allergens. Perkins cites a study published in 2011 that monitored reaction to allergens over time: "People had less of a response to allergens as they aged," she says. "Certainly you could see an aging population to have less severe allergic response."

In 2007, Swedish neurologist and medical director Dr. Carl Dahlof presented findings to the American Headache Society, noting that, with age, migraine attacks become fewer, less painful and don't last as long. One reason may be because hormones (estrogen), which are often migraine triggers, diminish after menopause. According to Migraine Action, a British national charity and advisory that provides support to those affected by migraines, 67 percent of women find their migraines stop or improve significantly after menopause.

Better sex

A study appearing in the January 2012 issue of The American Journal of Medicine found that sexual satisfaction in women increases with age, and that those not engaging in sex are satisfied with their sex lives. A majority of study participants reported frequent arousal and orgasm that continued into old age. The median age in the study was 67, and 63 percent were postmenopausal. The youngest and oldest women in the study reported the highest frequency of orgasm satisfaction.

Board-certified sexuality counselor Lynne Kolton Schneider explains the why behind some of the responses: "There is less fear concerning pregnancy, certainly," Schneider says. "As you age, you don't have children interrupting, so you're living a more relaxed lifestyle and have more opportunity to remain sexual. For those who do not have as much sex, it's not that they don't want to have sex necessarily, but they may not have the opportunity."

Sex is also different at an older age. "It may be preferable to some women that sex doesn't last as long, and may be softer," Schneider says. For the most part, there's more time for sex as we age; there's more communication since, in theory, sexual partners have been together a long time; we know what we like and are more confident to ask for it; and we feel freer with our bodies.